


Conversations Long Overdue

by SinisterScribe



Series: I Know Peggy Carter's Worth Too [2]
Category: Agent Carter (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fall of SHIELD, Idiots in Love, Magic, Maria should learn to knock, Melinda May (mentioned) - Freeform, Peggy is having none of that, Phil Coulson (mentioned) - Freeform, Steve is a Troll, Tony Has Issues, UST, because it's pretty much just talking, deception detection, definitely not the Jossed cornfed Iowa version of him, even if she thinks he's an idiot, part two!, plans for a roadtrip, runs in his family, she loves her godson, these guys, took so long to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 17:56:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18696454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SinisterScribe/pseuds/SinisterScribe
Summary: In which Peggy has...plans and they are interrupted by just about everybody.She's missed a lot and catching up might be some ice skating uphill but she's never been one to shrink from a challenge. Peggy gets acquainted with the world she finds herself in, which is not entirely what she left behind. Still, she's with Steve and everything's going to be fine.If she could just convince everyone else to get out of her damn way, she'd be golden.This series is going to end up being STUPID with crossovers.





	Conversations Long Overdue

**Author's Note:**

> I HAVE NOT SEEN ENDGAME SO NO SPOILERS! KTHANXBAI
> 
> I feel I should add that warning just in case y'all are paranoid.

**The Long Sleep**

 

Steve attempted not to worry. He truly did.

He desperately withheld himself from _hovering_ over her whilst she slept and tried to leave her be. If she was that determined to remain horizontal for the foreseeable then he was hardly likely to get in her way. She had been to war for _decades_ after all. He could only imagine the adjustment that she was going through.

True, he could probably imagine it better than most, but he hadn’t seen what she had seen and he wasn’t about to assume that he knew what she was going through.

So he behaved himself as best he could and fed her when she woke briefly for food or water. Did _not_ bound up the stairs to try and catch sight of her conscious when she shambled to the bathroom and otherwise attempted not to resemble and over-broody mother hen.

Judging by the way Sam literally pushed him out of the door for a doctor’s appointment on day two, Steve gathered his attempts fell short of success.

Sam had declared him ‘impossible’ at the doctor’s office. The medical professionals on site, much harassed by a Super Soldier in need of getting home the soonest, were inclined to agree. They had looked at his healed wounds, declared him fit for more active pursuits like his daily runs (which he had been doing already for a week) and shuttled him gratefully back into Sam’s care.

Sam was one of the most patient men that Steve had ever met. There was a core deep placidity to him that seemed entirely unshakeable. He took everything in his stride and rolled with the punches…but even he was Done with Steve by day three.

Still, he got to climb into bed beside her every night. She sort of woke up for that, rolling over and into his arms as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing, sometimes their sleep was disturbed. They had both seen more than enough and sometimes another body in the bed was too much after a particular nightmare. So if one of them woke up and the other was on the floor…well, they tended to just crawl down there beside them and hold on despite the nightmares.

On day four, Steve opened his eyes and tensed with no conscious notion as to why. His arm swept out, checking on Peggy and his head whipped around when he found her side of the bed empty. He was catapulted into full wakefulness and an upright position before he could stop himself and was out of the bed, opening his mouth to shout for her before he realised what he was about.

The sound of the shower halted him.

Sam had gone to work at the VA already, Steve had heard him leave earlier. So it had to be Peggy in the shower.

Steve debated with himself for a few moments.

She hadn’t woken up long enough to shower in the past few days. Steve was hardly likely to be bothered by that, he’d fought trench warfare, hygiene was a luxury that he never got tired of. If she was up and showering, she might be up for a while. On the one hand, he didn’t want to miss her whilst she was awake if she _was_ just going to head straight back to bed…on the other hand, he really needed a shower himself.

Steve dithered for all of thirty seconds before bolting to the guest bathroom and sluicing through the quickest shower of his life. He was scrubbed, teeth brushed and feeling distinctly more awake as he slunk back into the bedroom hoping to catch her before she fell into true sleep again.

Steve slithered to a halt and blinked rapidly when confronted with… _Peggy_.

She stood with her back to him, head bent, scrunching her hair with a fluffy blue towel and she was –completely- naked.

Steve stared at the long lean lines of her naked back. The lush curve of her hips, the dimples at her lower back, the _perfection_ of her backside and the ten mile long stretch of paradise that was her legs.

He must have made a sound, he must have, for she turned to look at him.

She was beautiful.

Steve grinned back at her when she smiled at him. Her mouth was relaxed and nude of her trademark crimson lipstick though her lips were certainly darker than he would have thought they’d be. Her eyes were heavy lidded, she was still muzzy from sleep despite her shower and her hair was a wild tangle about her shoulders.

“Good mornin’.” Steve gulped, increasingly aware that they both only had a couple of feet and some towels between them.

Peggy watched him for a moment, wringing out her hair with the towel still, and her smile broadened into a grin.

“It certainly is.”

He didn’t know what might have happened next. It looked like she might have dropped the towel and all of his good intentions to take her to dinner and dancing before anything else would have gone out of the window but they were interrupted.

They were _always_ being interrupted.

Peggy stiffened when a _bellow_ sounded from the floor below.

Steve was actually staggered by the sound, his entire body clenched, unable to identify the alien scream and he felt his heart kick into a galloping beat at that thought. Actual aliens? In Sam’s living room?

He would be so _pissed_.

“Katla.”

Peggy _streaked_ past Steve. Faster than he could credit her. He knew she was strong, he had sensed it and seen it but he’d had no idea that she was so fast. Faster than him certainly.

Even going full tilt and not caring about the walls or furniture, Steve could barely keep her in sight.

Not least of all because she vaulted the banister and dropped over the side, bypassing the stairs entirely to land soundlessly in the hallway.

She twisted violently to the side, narrowly dodging a fireball the size of her head that smashed into the stairs, nearly incinerating Steve from the calves down, and snatched up the intruder by the scruff of her neck.

The woman, a tall brunette, squeaked in ungainly alarm, she had not heard Peggy’s approach. It turned into a yell when she was bodily hurled across the room.

Peggy tossed her like a doll and dived across the room, reaching for Katla even as the tiny enchanted dragon hurled herself from the couch, dragging Caliburn into Peggy’s palm.

Magic poured over Peggy, rushing out from her enchanted blade with licking tongues of fire. Metal scales erupted over her skin, winged pauldrons broadened her shoulders, clawed greaves adorned her arms and legs and a dragon shaped helm gulped over her head. She slithered over the floor, regaining her feet and advanced upon the intruder.

“Friendly!” Steve appeared between them, holding up both hands to ward her off. “FRIENDLY!”

Peggy stilled, Caliburn raised at the level of her eyes, the glimmering steel shining brightly in the tiny living room. She was breathing hard, magic huffing in gusts between the bared teeth of her helmet and she knew her eyes must be shining silver in the dark interior of the helm. Katla roiled around Peggy’s wrist and forearm, anchoring Caliburn in place and ready to spew fire and magic to aid Peggy in whatever war she chose to wage.

Peggy was breathing hard but she was in control.

It had not even occurred to her that the woman might be friendly. The notion of… _houseguests_ was decidedly…foreign.

Steve, sensing the change in her, breathed out a harsh sigh and slowly straightened. He snatched up his towel where it had fallen on the stairs and cinched it about his hips again. He turned to the fallen woman next.

“What the hell, Hill?”

“I was coming to see you.” Hill was still sprawled on the floor and she watched Peggy with a very…respectful gaze.

Probably because Peggy had lowered her blade but had not removed her helm nor ordered Katla to stop hissing like the simmering kettle she had been named for.

“Thanks. Just, you know, learn to knock.” Steve held out his hand to help her up and the apparent Hill rolled to her feet. She stood with her palms subtly facing Peggy and her arms loose at her sides. Nonthreatening.

Peggy did NOT sheathe Caliburn…though she did pet Katla to quiet her snarling.

Steve turned and looked at her in a particularly…Steve manner.

Peggy sighed and thought about her helm receding. The metal mouth of the dragon helmet gaped wide and receded back, leaving her head bare. Peggy raised her eyebrows. He’d better be happy because that was all she was conceding at this juncture.

Hill’s eyebrows shot up.

“Peggy Carter.” She blurted without need of introductions.

Peggy’s lips pursed and she looked pointedly at Steve.

“Peggy, this is Maria Hill. She used to work for SHIELD. So, you know, she’s on our side.”

“SHIELD.” Peggy hummed. Looking over Maria in a new light.

She ticked off the suit the woman was wearing, the way she held herself, tactical training was ingrained into muscle memory evidently but she was deferring to Peggy’s far superior strength and skill in a pleasing enough manner.

Something about her did not…sit entirely well with Peggy but she hadn’t yet put a finger on it and elected not to remove any limbs from the intruder until she was certain as to why she was doing so.

“Okay, I know that I’ve suffered a recent head trauma but…you’re distinctly _younger_ than I remember you being.” Maria pointed at Peggy a little drunkenly and Peggy suppressed a wince.

Gods, she was an immortal warrior and she’d damn near put the puny human through a wall. Not to mention that part of the stairway was on fire and this was Sam’s house and…damn it.

“The Peggy Carter you know is a decoy. A magical fake.” Peggy strode past Steve and up the stairs. She held her hand out and _concentrated_.

Katla hissed, not accustomed to putting _out_ fires but helped Peggy when she realised what her bearer was about. The fires died away and Katla even repaired the majority of the damage because Sam was her favourite and he had invited them into his home for no good reason.

“Magic. Great.” Maria very nearly grumbled. She did a double take at Steve. “Good grief, Rogers, put some pants on before you have someone’s eye out.”

Peggy turned very slowly and lanced Maria with a look.

“You are looking at a whole lesbian, ma’am.” Hill held her hands up and then slowly reached to touch at the back of her skull. She winced when her fingertips came away stained with red. “Oy.”

“You’d best sit down before you fall down.” Peggy hopped down off the stairs, ignoring the clatter of her armour around her and nodded to the kitchen. “I’ll tend to your wounds whilst Steve gets dressed.”

Both Maria and Steve hesitated and Peggy frowned.

“I was surprised. I did not expect anyone else to be in the house.” Peggy said stiffly. “I had _plans_.” Her gaze raked Steve and she mentally waved goodbye to said plans. She had waited seventy years, she could wait longer, but at this point it was beginning to feel like some sort of conspiracy against them.

“First aid is under the sink.” Steve told her and then headed for the stairs, bounding up them three at a time in order to get dressed as soon as possible.

“I take it that you’re the source of the oh-eight-four readings from a couple of days ago?” Maria turned to head for the island worktop and the bar stools surrounding it in the kitchen and Peggy caught her by one elbow when her legs buckled.

“Yes.” Peggy stooped, looping Maria’s arm over her shoulders, thinking about the armour softening to a simple tunic of mail links rather than the spined pauldrons she wore to battle.

“That’s pretty cool.” Maria let herself be half carried to the kitchen and deposited on the stool. She winced when Peggy spanned her skull with both hands and _concentrated._

“No fractures,” Peggy’s eyes were half lidded, “no brain swelling either, you have a goose egg but other than that you should be fine.”

Maria hissed out a breath when Peggy’s hand hovered over the wound on the back of her head and the swelling began to shrink. It wasn’t the cleanest healing spell. The gathered liquid from the inflammatory response had to go somewhere and it bled down the back of Maria’s neck in a mess of bloodied plasma. Maria squirmed in discomfort at the sensation but let Peggy mop up with a nearby dish towel rather than complain. She cautiously touched at the sticky wound once Peggy lifted her hand away and nodded briefly.

“Thanks.”

“Least I can do after nearly putting you face first through the wall.” Peggy shrugged, belatedly shouldering Caliburn over her back.

The magic of Katla took hold, sheathing the sword there in a wrapping of scale armour and allowing the tiny dragon to watch Maria still. She had not given any indication that she was sentient and remained very still as she observed this stranger. Peggy let her keep her silence. Lord knew, it was a rarity.

“You always been enhanced?” Maria made to rise from the stool but decided she was fine where she was when Peggy pushed her back into it.

“No.” Peggy shook her head briefly and went to the sink. Wetting another cloth and bringing it back to Maria so that she could mop up the mess on the back of her head and neck. “Though I have been for the majority of my life, the Peggy Carter you knew was no more durable than any other mortal.”

“Mortal…you been to Asguard?”

“Yes. Though I do not hail from there.” Peggy smirked. “Different World Tree. I’ve spent most of the last seventy years or so hopping between the realms of Avalon. Camelot and the like.”

Peggy watched Maria open her mouth to scoff something disbelieving but then she remembered her paygrade and also, you know, her average Tuesday. She studied Peggy’s armour instead, the sword slung over her back and the way she held herself. Maria had met enough Asguardians to know immortality when she looked it in the eye.

Peggy was one of them.

“Tony’s going to lose his _shit_.” Maria hummed after a moment and was surprised at the broad smile that graced Peggy’s face.

“I’ll need to see him soon.” Peggy checked Maria’s wound once more and hummed when she found it was mostly sealed and looked to be doing fine. She’d have a headache but she had avoided concussion or worse. “How is he?”

“What’s it to you?” Maria’s voice was wary and Peggy had to give the other woman credit. She had to know that she was _seriously_ outclassed but she still didn’t back down. SHIELD training through and through.

“I’d like to see my godson again, if that’s alright with you.” Peggy’s tone made it abundantly clear that Maria had precisely no say in the matter.

Maria made a displeased sound with a grimace.

“Why the face?”

“She’s thinking on how to do a threat assessment of an armoured warrior from Camelot and how her boss is likely not to care and invite you to dinner anyway.” Steve joined them again, striding into the room dressed in faded jeans and a grey tee shirt that clung to him wonderfully.  Steve stood close to Peggy but spoke to Maria. “We okay?”

“Five by five.” Maria nodded, dabbing once more with her icky cloth and then setting it aside. “Yeah, paperwork is going to be a bitch.”

“Tony’s in SHIELD?” Peggy looked at Steve and then back to Maria.

“No, I work for Stark Industries as their security…person.” Maria was a little hazy on her exact job title. She mostly helped Pepper do damage control for Stark whenever he got it into his head to be an idiot (most days then) and helped train the security for Stark Industries.

“Steve said you worked for SHIELD?” Peggy frowned. Had she misheard?

“Past tense.” Maria nodded, her eyes darting to Steve and realisation swept over her. “Yooouu…don’t know.”

“Evidently.” Peggy’s clipped tone made it plain that her current state of ignorance should be short lived.

“I was gonna tell you when you woke up.” Steve said, taking pity on Maria. “SHIELD is Hydra.”

Peggy…blinked.

“ _…what_?” She gathered herself after a moment.

“We thought we’d destroyed Hydra at the end of the War but…turns out they just went under cover. Deep cover. They set themselves up in SHIELD. Posed as genuine agents, commanders, teams and…infiltrated. They damn near took over.” Steve shoved his hands in his pockets and looked down, clearing his throat. “SHIELD’s disbanded, Peggy. I’m sorry.”

Peggy, to her credit, took that mostly in her stride. Probably because she couldn’t fully get a _handle_ on that right now because –WHAT THE FUCK- but she had more pressing questions.

“Fury?”

“Pretending to be dead.” Steve shrugged a shoulder.

“He does that.” Peggy let loose a slow sigh. She tensed again. “Coulson?”

“Coulson?” Steve went carefully still.

“He was my successor. He was to be Director in the event of Fury’s death. If Hydra really was in SHIELD then there is _no way_ that Phil Coulson didn’t tear…things…apart…” Peggy trailed off when she saw Steve’s face change. Saw the grief.

No. No. Not _Phil_. Not good, kind, honourable, _wonderful_ Phil who had idolised Steve so much. Had modelled so many of his own behaviours on Steve’s that he hadn’t even realised that he’d become just as much a hero as Captain America. Phil who had been so inseparable from Melinda May, even after Bahrain.

Oh god, _Melinda_ , she had to be crushed.

“No.” Peggy felt her eyes burn and she tried to blink the tears away. They were useless but…but _Phil_.

“I’m sorry. He died…”

“ _Lies!”_ Katla suddenly reared up over Peggy’s shoulder and hissed at Maria, all of her silver teeth bared in a tiny snarl.

“JESUS!” Maria yelped, backing sharply into the island worktop and a gun appearing in her hand faster than even Peggy had given her credit for. For all Maria knew, the sword was as enchanted as Peggy’s armour. It hadn’t occurred to her that it had a voice. “It talks?! The _sword talks?!”_ Maria looked wildly at Steve, who seemed to be taking this far too well but Katla wasn’t listening.

“She lied in her eyes. I saw it. When the Captain said Coulson was dead. She LIED!” Katla hissed a terrible growl, steam billowing from her tiny nose, her enamelled wings mantling.

“Hill?” Steve’s gaze landed heavily on Maria, his face taut and his body braced for another betrayal.

“Tell me.” Peggy’s voice was low and terrible. Her eyes swallowing all the light that touched them and her fangs bared with every word. “Tell me before I _make you_.”

Maria let loose a slow breath through her nose and held up one hand to belay any such torture. Sure, the sword talking was…a thing, but SHIELD was disbanded and, well, Carter had been the Director. She had handpicked Coulson. If anyone had a right to know it was her.

That and Maria still hadn’t developed a defence against the Disappointed Eyebrows that Steve could level at her.

“Phil Coulson died before the battle of New York. When Loki invaded with the Chitauri.” Maria holstered her weapon.

“True?” Katla scowled fiercely. Not understanding.

“He did not stay dead.” Maria continued and Steve went ramrod straight with outrage. “He was dead for a _while_ don’t get me wrong, Fury wasn’t lying when he told you what had happened, Phil just didn’t…stay dead.”

“What did you do?” Peggy’s voice was low and _furious._

“I didn’t do anything.” Maria’s jaw was clenched and she yelped when Peggy hauled her out of the stool with one hand around her throat.

“ _WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?_ ” Peggy roared, her rage shaking the entire room.

“Peggy!” Steve gripped her wrist and tried to stop her from crushing the life out of Maria. “Peggy, stop.” He tried to loosen her hold, but even his strength couldn’t prise her fingers away from Maria’s neck.

“She can tell us nothing if she is dead.” Katla spoke quietly but it got through to Peggy when kinder reasoning wouldn’t have.

With a snarl of outrage, Peggy thrust Maria away from her to sprawl messily on the floor. She turned away, rolling her shoulders, teeth bared, gouts of magic streaming from her mouth and nose with every molten breath. Her silver pupils lanced Maria. She shook with the urge to tear the woman apart.

“Maria and Phil were friends. I’m _certain_ she has a good explanation.” Steve planted himself between Peggy and Hill, hoping that her affection for him might stop her when his strength couldn’t.

“Some things can’t be forgiven.” Peggy snapped. “You have no idea what they have done! None of them do! There are LAWS, Steve. Old laws the likes of which mere mortals _should not_ meddle. Death cannot be undone. Not by magic. Not like that. Whatever they brought back was NOT Phil Coulson. They piss on his memory by pretending as much. Giving it the name of a good man.” Her eyes returned to Maria and the seasoned agent shrank back from the weight of that glare. “I will _destroy_ everyone responsible.”

“It’s him.” Maria rubbed at her neck. “I’ve met him. I’ve spoken to him. Definitely him.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. The undead are…not who we think they are.” Something stark and terrible swam in the depth of Peggy’s gaze.

“Maybe it’s possible.” Steve offered.

“She believes she tells the truth.” Katla offered, looking worriedly at Peggy. She had never seen Peggy like this.

Katla knew well of Coulson. Peggy had spoke often of him when she awoke from her dreams with the golem. She had smiled as she talked. She had…loved him. Loved him something like a son she had never borne. Peggy had delighted in telling Katla stories of the young man’s escapades, watched him grow into a seasoned agent, a warrior that she respected. All through the eyes of her golem in this world, but that distance had not lessened the fondness she had held for him.

“It’s impossible and we both know it.”

“Maybe it’s not.” Steve said with a small smile. “Maybe there’s a way to really bring someone back.”

“If there were, I would have found it.” Peggy let her shoulders sag and rubbed at her forehead. She felt suddenly exhausted. She looked up at Steve and managed something of a wan smile. “I had more than a little motivation to find such a spell, after all.”

Steve swallowed at that. Of course. Of course she would have. Had their positions been reversed, he’d have torn apart the worlds of magic to bring her back too. It would have taken…a hell of a deterrent to convince him not to do so if he found a way to bring Peggy back had she been gone from him.

“Where is it?” Peggy looked at Maria. “The thing that wears his face. Where is it?”

“We, ah, don’t know.” Maria stayed exactly where she was on the floor, her eyes darting to Steve before coming back to Peggy. “He was in a facility, recovering from the procedure –no, I don’t know exactly what that was, I don’t have the clearance- and then he left.”

“Why would Phil Coulson leave a SHIELD facility?” Peggy propped a hand on her hip and stared Maria down. “Why would the real Phil do that?”

“I’ve no idea, but he’s been a ghost in the wind for…a year if not more.” Maria’s brow tightened as something occurred to her.

“Betrayal.” Katla murmured into Peggy’s ear and Maria’s jaw clenched. She could do without the psychic sword outing her thoughts to all and sundry.

“Speak.” Peggy folded her arms over her chest, daring Maria to refute her.

“I’m not wrong.” Maria said stubbornly. “The man in that facility, was Philip Coulson. He was _different_ but it was him. I last saw him before the Fall. We talked about…he talked about how something didn’t seem right in the facility. There were…gaps that didn’t make sense. I thought he was talking about his memory. He had no idea that he had died for more than a handful of seconds. I thought he meant there were gaps in his story. He’s a smart guy, I didn’t expect him to just blindly believe it really…”

“But now?” Steve prompted when Maria fell silent once more, thinking hard.

“That facility fell to Hydra.” Maria winced her way to her feet, the weight of her own betrayal burning her. “It was a facility to study the enhanced and delve into fringe science and it was _Hydra’s_.”

“You think the gaps in the story he was talking about were about the facility itself?” Steve realised. “You think he knew they were Hydra?”

“If anyone was going to know, it was going to be him. They fooled us all. Too many people were deep cover and too many others died,” Maria’s voice was bitter, “Phil must have felt something was off. He’d have felt it the same way you did, Cap.”

“I know.” Steve looked down at his hands, quietly adjusting to the knowledge that Phil was alive.

He hadn’t known the man well. He had come across as kind, decent, honourable. A little –what was the word- dorky, but a nice guy. He’d been brave and selfless, hadn’t put up with Tony’s shit and he’d faced down a god by himself when none of the rest of them had been able to get their heads out of their collective asses long enough to take matters in hand. They –the Avengers- had failed Phil Coulson and it had led to his death.

“We have to find him.” Peggy sighed. “We have to put him down.”

“I am NOT helping you to kill Phil Coulson.” Maria all but snarled. Forgetting that Peggy could crush her like a bug or just not caring. “He’s _real_. He’s really Phil.”

“They always fool us in the beginning.” Peggy smiled tightly. “Then you realise it’s a mask. That humanity that you thought was so real. A mask washed away only by blood.”

“Not Phil.” Maria shook her head. “Me or you, going to the dark side, totally buy that. _Not_ Phil.”

“I loved him too.” Peggy spoke with finality. “But he’s gone. You need to accept it.”

“I need to do no such fucking thing, lady. I’ve no guarantee that YOU’RE who you say you are! Peggy Carter’s in a fucking hospital and has been for years. She’s in her damn nineties.” Maria looked ready to fight.

“That’s really Peggy.” Steve nodded to her.

“Due respect, Rogers, but you are too damn close to this to verify _shit_.” Maria growled. “You want her to be real.”

“Just as you want Phil to be real. Tell me where he is.” Peggy showed her teeth.

“You might as well just snap my neck then. Even if I did know where he was, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“True.” Katla murmured again. A grudging respect in her tone.

 Not that she was really surprised that anyone that had learned under some version of Peggy would be lethal and loyal to the end. There was a reason she had been chosen as Caliburn’s Champion after all.

“We’re all friends here.” Steve stepped between them when Peggy moved, to do what he had no idea but he knew that emotions were running high and Peggy was…different to the woman he had known during the War.

Not just with the pointed ears and the fangs either.

“Yeah, I’m going to need verification on that.” Maria didn’t look away from glaring at Peggy.

Even if this stranger _was_ somehow the former Director of SHIELD (hey, they’d had weirder things happen) Maria wasn’t letting her go after Coulson. The guy had been through enough and if he’d bailed in the Tahiti facility because he’d seen which way the wind was blowing and had no idea which way to turn…well, she wasn’t about to bring more hell down on him.

“And how do you plan on doing that? I can tell you already that my DNA profile has changed and everyone available to vouch for me you’ll call into question due to emotional entanglement.” Peggy waved at Steve and Katla both. Not that she expected Hill to take Katla’s word but…still.

“We’ve got tests we can do.” Maria rubbed at the back of her head and slowly rotated her elbow. She’d landed hard when Peggy had put her down on the floor. “Lie detectors have come a long way in recent decades.”

“ _I know.”_ Peggy reminded her, folding her arms over her chest. “I signed most of the paperwork allocating funding to the research.”

“Then you won’t have a problem getting into the chair then.” Maria shot back without hesitation, keeping a weather eye on the sword.

Peggy rolled her eyes and they landed on Steve. She hissed out an annoyed breath when she saw the expression on his face.

“Don’t tell me that you don’t know I’m really me.”

“I recognise that we need to unruffle some feathers.” Steve planted his hands in his pockets, looking no more pleased about it than she was. “This sounds like the easiest way to do it.”

“We can use Stark’s DC office.” Maria nodded shortly.

“Stark will meet us there.” Peggy demanded, tone implacable.

“No way.”

“There are acts of gods that cannot move me, Hill. I’m not going anywhere unless there’s something in it for me.” Peggy informed her coolly.

Maria glanced at Steve who shrugged a shoulder to indicate that it was true and Maria sighed.

“I can call him, but I don’t order Stark about. Nobody does.”

“Pepper does.” Peggy murmured and started for the stairs. “I’m going to get dressed in something less Period Drama. I’ll be back in five.”

Maria and Steve watched her head up the stairs and Maria turned to look at Steve.

“Can you take her if you need to?”

Steve snorted and shook his head.

“Hill, I couldn’t even have taken her when she was only human. There’s a reason Hydra waited until she’d retired before they made their move.”

“Great.” Maria rolled her shoulders. In quite a bit of pain.

“It’s really her.” Steve insisted.

“Yeah, well if the choice is between her and Phil Coulson, you’ll excuse me if I don’t just take your word on that.” Maria snapped.

“Yeah. We’re going to talk about that.” Steve said firmly.

“Looking forward to it.” Maria growled and pulled out her cell.

She had some calls to make.

 

**_Stark Industries, DC Office…_ **

 

“State your full name please.”

“Margaret Elizabeth Gladius Ex Seelie Mooncutter Carter, Champion of Avalon, Wielder of Caliburn, Favoured of Titania, Destroyer of Undead, former Director of SHIELD.” Peggy stared straight ahead, ignoring the tech running the tests and the soft blue light that emanated from the headpiece of the lie detector machine.

The tech blinked at her response, looking at the readout from the machine and then glancing uncertainly at the mirrored window through which his superior’s watched.

“Right, uh, let’s try some control questions.” He cleared his throat, looking down at his notes. She had been entirely honest according to the machine. The readings of her brain activity indicating that she was reciting from memory rather than fabricating any of that.

“What day is it?”

“No idea.” Peggy glanced at him. “I’m not precisely up to date on current events for this millennium.”

“Tuesday the fifth of May.” The tech supplied after a moment and tried something else. “Where are you right now?”

“In the Washington DC local office of Stark Industries, sub-basement three, room two oh four, sitting in theeee…mark four of this particular brand of fallacy detection device, facing in a south-westerly direction.”

“Oh…kay.” The tech blew out a breath and looked at their readings again. This was going to be a long session. “When were you born?”

“Ninth of April, nineteen twenty one.”

“Okay.” The tech nodded. That had been something he could verify. “What’s the weather like outside?”

“Overcast but mild when I last saw it.”

“Who’s the President?”

“A moron.”

The tech smirked and jumped a little when a sharp knock rapped on the other side of the mirrored window. He cleared his throat and turned back to Peggy.

“Thank you, ma’am, I think that’s enough control questions for now.”

“Goody.” Peggy smiled at him and not entirely unkindly. It wasn’t his fault she was in this chair after all.

“Can you tell me who the woman in the hospice in New York is? She’s supposed to be Peggy Carter.”

“She is a magically formed replica of me. She has been in place since the summer of nineteen forty eight. The body itself is made of enchanted clay, made to mimic a human lifespan, her thought processes were entirely my own. Her brain modelled after my own neural pathways and her decisions influenced by myself when we connected through my dreams.” Peggy rattled it off in a bored tone. She’d explained this all to Hill in the car on the way over here after all.

“So…you were connected to it the whole time?”

“No. When I slept, dreamed, in Avalon, we connected through my subconscious and it –uh- refreshed or recharged whatever magic was used to keep it going. The connection was somehow broken about five of your years ago. I have not dreamed nor seen through its eyes in all of that time.”

“Why did it need to recharge?” The tech was scribbling notes furiously and barely glanced up at her as he spoke.

“Well, for all their power, Titania and Oberon are still limited. They couldn’t create a replica of a human brain from nothing. That and emotions are far too complex to formulate from magic. The golem needed to be attached to my mind in order to feel how I would feel. To form the connections it did with the people that I left behind.” Peggy cocked her head. “That and I always planned to come back. Seeing the memories it collected over the years allowed me to keep –roughly- abreast of things.”

“Do you know what severed the connection?”

“No. There are _very_ few things that can get in the way of such powerful magic as a link between one identical brain and another. Even if one of them is made of silicate.”

“Do you know what those things are?”

“They are more…concepts than _things_.” Peggy turned to look at the tech and found the young man to be genuinely interested. “Death, love, justice, equality, these things are the domain of mortals and as such cannot be affected by immortal beings such as Titania and Oberon. They may only imbue their champions with the power to effect change.”

“So you’re not immortal?”

“There are degrees. I am functionally immortal in that my inherent powers will keep me from aging in any real way indefinitely. I can, however, be killed. If loaded with enough damage.” Peggy allowed with a shrug. “Though considering I’ve survived having things dropped on me from orbit, you might want to tell your superiors to look at nuclear options if they are intent on crossing me off.”

“Right.” The tech’s eyebrows rose and he looked back down at his pad. Writing something down and underlining it twice. “Why’d you come back?”

“To Earth or Washington in particular?”

“Both.”

“I am a native to this realm. It has ever been my home I have just been…absent for a time.” Peggy looked down at her hands buckled to the armrests of the chair. Manacles that she could destroy with a shrug and a can-do attitude. “My family is here, indoor plumbing, my favoured lipstick brand. It is home. As for coming to DC…that was accidental. I asked my friend to use her magic to take me home. Apparently I should have been more specific. Latitude and longitude are something foreign to dragons it turns out.”

“So turning up in DC was random?”

“I thought as much.” Peggy shrugged. “I then discovered that Steve Rogers is still alive and things took a turn for the clearer.”

The tech blinked at that, frowning.

“I still love him. Never stopped. Katla’s magic picked up on that and brought me to him.”

“You, uh, had no idea that he was alive?”

“Not until I literally ran into him.” Peggy nodded.

“Wow. Tough night for you.”

“I’ve had better.” Peggy nodded again, more emphatic this time.

“What’s your relationship with Steve Rogers?” The tech forged on and his face tensed when he saw the flash of emotion that went through her brain at the question.

He might be young but he’d been doing this for a long time. He recognised when someone felt annoyance at their privacy being invaded. Then again, if this was the real Peggy Carter, she’d have known that privacy was something she had given up when she founded SHIELD.

“Nothing. Yet.” Peggy clarified when the tech eyeballed her with blatant disbelief. “We keep getting interrupted.”

“Eww.”

Peggy turned when the door opened, muffled protests left in Tony Stark’s wake that he promptly shut the door on. Looked like Maria really couldn’t order him around.

“Anthony.” Peggy smiled at the flush of activity that went through her brain was as powerful as it was genuine. Highlights in the emotional centre of her brain. No artifice. She genuinely cared about him.

“Nobody wants to think about geriatrics going at it.” Tony stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched her for a long moment, glancing at the readouts from the machine that he had –ah- acquired from SHIELD when it disbanded. “Nobody’s called me that in years. It’s Tony now. Or boss or Supreme Leader. Whichever you feel most comfortable with. Beat it, kid.”

The tech didn’t need to be told twice and he quickly vacated his seat. Stark folded down to sit in it, hands clasped together loosely between his knees. He watched Peggy for a long time from behind those ridiculous shaded glasses of his. An ancient pair of aviators.

Peggy grinned.

“You kept them.”

Tony cocked his head and Peggy recognised a test when she saw one.

“I might have been fighting a war, but a godmother has to make an appearance for her godson’s sixteenth. Doesn’t she?”

Peggy remembered the party well. It had been obnoxious in the way that only Howard (and she supposed his son) could be. Too many people, a cram of mortals to close for comfort for an over-sensitised Peggy. She hadn’t stayed long, dressed in her leathers and ill suited to the levity of a sunny Californian afternoon when she had come from so much blood and death.

Still, she had taken the time to greet him on his birthday. Make sure that he was just drunk enough that he could excuse the changes in her appearance, and she had gifted him the sunglasses he now wore. To go with the ridiculous sports car that Howard had gifted him for his birthday.

“Dad said you couldn’t make it.” Tony said after a moment. “He was always leery when you came around but he was _livid_ when he found out you’d attended that party.”

“Howard had abandonment issues.” Peggy shrugged a shoulder. “Amongst many others.”

“The irony’s astounding.” Tony drawled and frowned when he saw something flicker amongst the colours flushing through her brain on the neural readout. He wasn’t an expert, but he could read this thing well enough. That had been emotion but also…pain.

“He didn’t think my other half was truly me. Didn’t trust it. Didn’t want it near you. He tolerated it for a while but then…forbid it from being anywhere near you.” Peggy shrugged. “He knew the right words to say to program that into it.”

“So that’s it? You just left him to it.”

“I crossed worlds to give you those sunglasses. Do you not wonder why you feel better when you wear them? More secure? Safe? Like someone is proud of you? I love you, Tony. Always have. Not quite as much as your father did but enough, I think. Enough to let you feel it whenever you wore those.”

Tony snatched the sunglasses off his face and glared at them.

“They’ve been in my head?!”

“In your heart, boy. Even through the barrier between realms I could see that Howard was…failing you.” Peggy’s mouth twisted and she looked down. “I couldn’t fix it. I had hoped he would get his head out of his arse and just… _talk to you_ but that was not to be. I just wanted you to… _know_ how we saw you. Your parents and I. You felt proud of yourself when you wore those sunglasses because that was how your parents felt and I currently feel about you. They let you see it.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m hooked up to a lie detector. Show me on the brain scan where I lied.” Peggy challenged him. “Your parents, myself and no shortage of other people love you. Get over it.”

Tony inhaled deeply, his jaw clenched and Peggy decided that was enough of that for now.

“Are you worried that I am real or afraid that I am not?”

“I haven’t decided yet. I’ve been visiting…my Peggy for years. Watched her decline. It hasn’t been easy.”

“I imagine not.”

“Do you?”

“ _Yes_.” Peggy might feel a great affection for the boy but he was a bit of a git sometimes. “My decision to leave this plane was not a simple one. I left behind everything I held dear but I did it to protect this world. If Avalon fell, Earth would be next. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Why not? We’ve had a pretty good run and I think it’s all downhill from here.” Tony shrugged.

“If you believed that, you wouldn’t wear armour and fight gods. Did _you_ know that Philip Coulson was alive?”

Tony went stock still, just for an instant, and his head ticked to one side. He narrowed his eyes at her and then tapped the screen in front of him. Playing back the live scan of her brain as she had spoken.

No lie.

“Coulson’s alive?”

“Apparently.” Peggy watched him carefully, measuring his response. He might not be hooked up to a deception detecting machine but her heightened senses didn’t really require that. She could hear his heartbeat, measure his breathing, smell his sweat.

His surprise at her question had been genuine.

“I thought he was dead.” Tony scowled and half turned to give his profile to the one way glass behind him. His jaw clenched. “I was told he was dead.”

“Rule number one: never trust Fury.” Peggy settled back in her chair. “Your woman, Hill, is adamant that it’s truly Philip though I _am_ fresh from an invasion of the undead in a world very like this one. I have seen the devastation that just one of these creatures can cause. We need to find him.”

“So he’s missing as well as not dead?” Tony clarified. It had been a bit of a fucking day and he’d only been awake for a couple of hours.

“Apparently. All of this is from Hill. She needs to be a bit more forthcoming about what happened and when…then we need to find him.”

“Did you really come back from your war?” Tony asked her suddenly and Peggy stilled. Her jaw clenched and she looked down at her hands for a moment.

“I wanted to.” She decided on a response that may even have been the truth.

“What about the other Peggy?” Tony lifted his gaze from the screen, measuring that last answer.

“I’d like to see it. I would like to find out what broke her.” Peggy allowed after a moment. “It is…troubling that it happened at all.”

“That it happened to her or that it might happen to you?”

“Both.” Peggy looked him straight in the eye. “Are you going to attempt to get in my way?”

“Haven’t decided yet.” Tony cocked his head the other way. “A quest might interrupt your time with Steve.”

“Steve’s coming with me. We’re not just looking for Phil.”

“You sound pretty sure of yourself.”

“Steve is probably the only thing I’ve ever been certain of in my very long life.” Peggy smiled softly and her eyes darted to the one way glass behind Tony. “And Katla of course.”

“The talking sword?”

“She’s a dragon attached to an enchanted sword. She can talk. The sword cannot.” Peggy clarified. “She would want you to know that.”

“And…I’m supposed to just let you and Captain America go on a tour across the planet? With your pet dragon and enchanted sword?”

“With the indestructible shield and perhaps Sam’s brilliant wings also.” Peggy smiled. “We could get a _van_.”

“I’m sure Sam would be delighted to be that fifth wheel.” Tony smirked.

“You’re welcome to come too.” Peggy offered almost magnanimously.

“Definitely not my scene.” Tony folded his arms over his chest, his sunglasses still dangling from one hand.

“We’d be discrete,” Peggy hummed, “is it not practice to put a sock on the doorknob or similar.”

“I can _feel_ him blushing from here.” Tony shivered in mock revulsion. “Poor little innocent, Captain Perfect.”

“Innocent.” Peggy snorted and looked more closely at Tony when he scoffed.

“Oh please, the man scolds me for my inappropriate language.”

Peggy blinked. Genuinely surprised at that according to her brain scan and then threw back her head and _roared_ with laughter.

“What’s funny?”

“Are you joking?!” Peggy kept laughing. “ _Steve_ scolding _anyone_ for language?!”

“He’s pretty cornfed.” Tony shrugged a shoulder.

“Steve is from _Brooklyn_.” Peggy disagreed. “Swearing is practically punctuation for him…wait. You _believe_ this! He had you fooled?”

“There’s…there’s a swear jar.” Tony said quietly and Peggy dissolved into giggles again. She sobered after a long moment.

“I did wonder how he managed the extravagance of that motorbike of his. It’s not the type of thing he would really lavish money on. Not unless he’d won it somehow.”

Tony stared at her for a full minute, blinking every so often but otherwise unmoving. He let loose a slow breath and then decided on something.

“I have put so much fucking money in that jar.” He looked helpless and Peggy grinned. “I paid for that gas guzzling monstrosity of his. I have been had.”

“It’s the eyebrows.” Peggy nodded. “He gives you the eyebrows and you cannot imagine him being anything other than desperately earnest.”

“It’s like telling a Labrador it’s been bad.” Tony was still adjusting but focussed on her once more, reminding himself that this was serious and he could deal with Rogers later.

“He perfected it on the Commandoes.” Peggy smiled and it dropped when she realised that Tony was studying her intently.

“I’m not sure I believe you.”

“That’s okay.” Peggy dipped her chin in a nod.

“I want to bring in some…advisors.” Tony hummed. “Might take them a while to get here.”

“And I’m to languish in such…hospitality between now and then?” Peggy made a point of looking around the Spartan room around them.

“Nah. You’ll come back to the Tower with me.” Tony nodded and suddenly yanked an earpiece out of his ear when someone apparently disagreed with that idea. “You and Steve both. You can stay for dinner.”

Peggy watched him for a long moment and hummed deep in her throat.

“Well, how can I refuse such an invitation?”

Tony smirked.

This was going to be fun.

Well, for one of them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So...for the roadtrip, any requests for who Peggy and Steve should run into? They're definitely going to come across Phil at some point, Thor and Co may turn up in the next installment, and I'm dithering over Stargate, Eureka and possibly Warehouse 13. 
> 
> Because I love those shows. 
> 
> Put yo prompts in the box below.


End file.
